Sequence dependence of energy transfer in DNA oligonucleotides.

The sequence, temperature, concentration, and solvent dependence of singlet energy transfer from normal DNA bases to the 2-aminopurine base in synthesized DNA oligomers were investigated by optical spectroscopy. Transfer was shown directly by a variable fluorescence excitation band at 260-280 nm. Adenine (A) is the most efficient energy donor by an order of magnitude. Stacks of A adjacent to 2AP act as an antenna for 2AP excitation. An interposed G, C, or T base between A and 2AP effectively blocks transfer from A to 2AP. Base stacking facilitates transfer, while base pairing reduces energy transfer slightly. The efficiency is differentially temperature dependent in single- and double-stranded oligomers and is highest below 0 degrees C in samples measured. An efficiency transition occurs well below the melting transition of a double-stranded decamer. The transfer efficiency in the duplex decamer d(CTGA[2AP]TTCAG)(2) is moderately dependent on the sample and salt concentration and is solvent dependent. Transfer at physiological temperature over more than a few bases is improbable, except along consecutive A's, indicating that singlet energy transfer is not a major factor in the localization of UV damage in DNA. These results have features in common with recently observed electron transfer from 2AP to G in oligonucleotides.

Melting and premelting transitions of an oligomer measured by DNA base fluorescence and absorption.

Incorporation of 2-aminopurine (2AP) in place of adenine gives an optical probe of local and global DNA conformation. The temperature dependence of the absorption of the duplex d[CTGA(2AP)-TTCAG]2 DNA decamer shows that the helix has approximately an all-or-none melting transition. Absorbance at wavelengths of 260 and 330 nm monitors the average normal base conformation and the 2AP base local conformation, respectively. From this measure, the 2AP base melts less than 1 degree C below the other bases. Temperature-dependent lifetime measurements of 2AP also mirror the melting transition. Absorption spectra show that below Tm most 2AP's are H-bonded. Fluorescence intensity and excitation spectra measurements show, on the other hand, that the most highly-fluorescent states correspond to non-H-bonded 2AP's which sense conformational changes of the helix. The temperature dependence of the fluorescence spectral shift shows the conformation and/or dynamics of the 2AP base changes 10 degrees C or more below Tm. The data suggest a premelting transition which is purely dynamic in nature--transient exposure of most 2AP's to water increases, while the average conformation remains B-helical.

Excitation energy transfer in DNA: duplex melting and transfer from normal bases to 2-aminopurine.

Absorption and fluorescence excitation and emission spectra of the B DNA duplex decamer d[CTGA(2AP)TTCAG]2, where emission from the 2AP (2-aminopurine) base dominates, have been measured as a function of temperature. A low-temperature excitation band in the 260-270-nm region disappears near the duplex melting temperature, Tm = 27 degrees C, but then reappears at higher temperatures. Singlet-singlet energy transfer thus occurs between the normal DNA bases and the 2AP base in the B-helical conformation and to a lesser extent in the structurally-mobile melted conformation. The measured efficiency of transfer is 4-5% at 4 degrees C, near 0 at 30 degrees C, and rises again to 1% at 48 degrees C. Nearest-neighbor-only singlet transfer is likely. Such transfer does not offer a likely explanation for UV damage distributions in DNA.

2-Aminopurine optical spectra: Solvent, pentose ring, and DNA helix melting dependence.

2-Aminopurine (2AP) absorption and fluorescence excitation and emission spectra in a series of solvents have been measured to assess effects of solvent polarity. Emission spectra of the free base shift to the red in solvents of a higher dielectric constant, including water but excepting dioxane. Excitation spectra also red-shift, except in water. A change in dipole moment of 2.8 D upon excitation is obtained from a Bilot-Kawski plot which includes data from potentially anomolous solvents such as alcohols but which excludes dioxane and aqueous solvents. Attachment of ribose or 2'-deoxyribose causes 1 to 2-nm shifts in the position of fluorescence excitation and emission spectra of 2AP in water and little change in fluorescence yield. Melting of the DNA duplex d[CTGA(2AP)TTCAG]2 yields a blue shift of the excitation and no shift of the emission spectrum-results consistent with increased exposure to water and formation of 2AP-water H bonds in the ground state. The spectral shift occurs 5°C or more below the helix melting temperature, implying a premelting structural change in the decamer.

Base stacking and unstacking as determined from a DNA decamer containing a fluorescent base.

Time-resolved fluorescence decay of a single-stranded DNA decamer d(CTGAAT5CAG), where d5 is the fluorescent base 1-(beta-D-2'-deoxyribosyl)-5-methyl-2-pyrimidinone, was measured and analyzed at several temperatures. The d5 base in the decamer is resolved into three states according to their fluorescence decay lifetime characteristics and temperature dependence of their associated amplitudes: fully extended and completely unstacked state, loosely associated state, and fully stacked state. These states are in slow exchange compared to their fluorescence decay rates. The population of the fully extended and completely unstacked state is small and decreases further with increasing temperature. The loosely associated state, whose fluorescence can still be efficiently quenched by other DNA bases, occupies a large portion of the conventionally defined unstacked state. Stacking enthalpy and entropy for the d5 base with thymine or cytosine bases in the DNA decamer are calculated to be -6.6 kcal/mol and -22 cal/mol.K, respectively. This work shows that fluorescent bases in DNA can be useful to the study of local conformations of bases.

Spectroscopy and fluorescence quenching of tyrosine in lima bean trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor and model peptides.

The effects of citrate ion concentration and pH on the optical spectra and fluorescence decay have been measured for several tyrosine model compounds and lima bean trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor, a protein containing one tyrosine at position 69 and seven disulfides but no tryptophan, in order to determine the location and environment of Tyr 69. Tyrosine in the protein is protected from citrate collisional quenching, as indicated by the dynamic quenching constant 9 to 15 times smaller than those for the model peptides. Static quenching remains, with a Stern-Volmer constant of about 1.0 M-1, somewhat smaller than those of L-tyrosine, tyrosine-glutamate, and leucine-tyrosine-leucine. The elevated pKa of Tyr 69, greater than or equal to 11.6, also indicates protein protection from solvent ions. Though Coulomb repulsion of the Glu 70/citrate pair may play a role in the shielding of Tyr 69 from citrate, our measurements indicate that steric effects of the protein structure are more important. Tyrosinate emission in the protein at neutral pH is minimal.

Structure and dynamics of a fluorescent DNA oligomer containing the EcoRI recognition sequence: fluorescence, molecular dynamics, and NMR studies.

The self-complementary DNA decamer duplex d(CTGAATTCAG)2 and its modified counterpart d(CTGA[2AP]TTCAG)2, where the innermost adenine (6-aminopurine) has been replaced with the fluorescent analogue 2-aminopurine (2AP), have been studied by fluorescence and NMR spectroscopy and simulated by molecular dynamics. Both decamers are recognized and cleaved by the EcoRI restriction endonuclease. 2D NMR results show that both decamers have a standard B-type conformation below 20 degrees C, though a disturbance exists to the 5' side of the 2AP site which may originate from increased local mobility. The fluorescence and fluorescence anisotropy decays of both decamers, as well as the one containing 2AP in only one chain, were studied as a function of temperature. The data show that the 2AP base exists in a temperature-dependent distribution of states and shows rapid motions, suggesting interconversion among these states on a time scale of about 10(-10) s. The integrated fluorescence of the decamer with 2AP in both chains shows a large increase around the helix melting temperature whereas the decamer with one 2AP shows only a mild increase, showing that the mixed helix has a different structural transition as sensed by the 2AP base. The data suggest a model of conformational states which have distinct fluorescence decay times. The various states may differ in the degree of base stacking. Fluctuations in the degree of stacking of the A or 2AP base are supported by molecular dynamics simulations, which additionally show that the 2AP-T or A-T base pair hydrogen bonds remain intact during these large motions.

Fluorescence polarization decay of tyrosine in lima bean trypsin inhibitor.

The fluorescence of lima bean trypsin inhibitor is due to a single tyrosine residue at position 69. The lifetime of this tyrosine fluorescence is 620 +/- 50 ps (mean +/- SD) and is little affected by addition of 0.88 M citrate, an efficient quencher of tyrosine fluorescence. The steady-state emission intensity is also only weakly reduced by the quencher. The tyrosine is thus not accessible to the citrate and is probably located in the interior of the protein. The high pK of the tyrosine supports this conclusion. The fluorescence anisotropy decay of the inhibitor's tyrosine can be fitted to a double exponential form, with time constants of about 40 ps and greater than or equal to 3 ns. The anisotropy at time zero is 0.19 +/- 0.015 (mean +/- SD), the same as for N-acetyl-L-tyrosinamide in viscous glycerol solution. The nanosecond component of the decay is consistent with rotation of the entire protein molecule. The 40-ps component demonstrates that the tyrosine has considerable freedom to move independently of the protein as a whole. This rotational correlation time is approximately what is observed for free tyrosine in aqueous solution. Since the polypeptide chain near tyrosine-69 is anchored by several disulfide bonds, the data argue that this interior portion of the protein consists of a rigid, immobile backbone embedded in fluid, mobile amino acid side chains.

Lifetime of fluorescence from light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b proteins. Excitation intensity dependence.

The fluorescence from a purified, aggregate form of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein has a lifetime of 1.2 +/- 0.5 ns at low excitation intensity, but the lifetime decreases significantly when the intensity of the 20-ps, 530-nm excitation pulse is increased above about 10(16) photons/cm2. A solubilized, monomeric form of the protein, on the other hand, has a fluorescence lifetime of 3.1 +/- 0.3 ns independent of excitation intensity from 10(14)-10(18) photons/cm2/pulse. We interpret the lifetime shortening in the aggregates and the lack of shortening in monomers in terms of exciton annihilation, facilitated in the aggregate by the larger population of interacting chlorophylls.

Fast reactions in carbon monoxide binding to heme proteins.

Using fast flash photolysis, we have measured the binding of CO to carboxymethylated cytochrome c and to heme c octapeptide as a function of temperature (5 degrees-350 degreesK) over an extended time range (100 ns(-1) ks). Experiments used a microsecond dye laser (lambda = 540 nm), and a mode-locked frequency-doubled Nd-glass laser (lambda = 530 nm). At low temperatures (5 degrees-120 degreesK) the rebinding exhibits two components. The slower component (I) is nonexponential in time and has an optical spectrum corresponding to rebiding from an S = 2, CO-free deoxy state. The fast component (I*) is exponential in time with a lifetime shorter than 10 mus and an optical spectrum different from the slow component. In myoglobin and the separated alpha and beta chains of hemoglobin, only process I is visible. The optical absorption spectrum of I* and its time dependence suggest that it may correspond to recombination from an excited state in which the iron has not yet moved out of the heme plane. The temperature dependences of both processes have been measured. Both occur via quantum mechanical tunneling at the lowest temperatures and via over-the-barrier motion at higher temperatures.

Binding of carbon monoxide to isolated hemoglobin chains.

Binding of carbon monoxide to the separated alpha and beta chains of hemoglobin, with and without bound p-mercuribenzoate, has been measured at temperatures from 5 to 340 K for times 2 mus to 1 ks using flash photolysis. All four proteins exhibit three different rebinding processes. The data are interpreted by a model in which the carbon monoxide, moving from the solvent to the binding site at the ferrous heme iron, encounters three barriers. The temperature dependences of the three processes yield activation enthalpies and entropies for the three barriers for all four proteins. Binding at temperatures below about 200 K is nonexponential, implying that the innermost barrier has a distribution of activation enthalpies. The distributions for the four proteins have been determined. At temperatures below 30 K, the CO binding rates approach finite low-temperature limits; binding thus proceeds by quantum-mechanical tunneling. Invoking a simple model, the widths of the innermost barriers are extracted from the measured tunneling rates. The experimental parameters are correlated with structural features of the hemoglobin chains and compared with previously published data on myoglobin and protoheme. A correlation is established between the height of the innermost barrier and the equilibrium CO pressure.

Tunneling in ligand binding to heme proteins.

Rebinding of carbon monoxide to the beta chain of hemoglobin after photodissociation by a laser flash is intramolecular below about 200 K. Above 25 K, rebinding occurs via classical over-the-barrier motion; below, quantum-mechanical tunneling dominates. Both are described by an energy spectrum peaked at Epeak=4.0 kilojoules per mole. The barrier width d(E), determined from the energy dependence of the tunneling rate, depends on barrier height, d(E) approximately 0.05 nanometer X (E/Epeak) 1.5.